A company in the United States is set to soon commence testing of its autonomous driving technology and more curiously, the use of emoji displays for vehicles.
The Financial Times reports that the firm, Drive.ai, will use displays at both the front and rear of the vehicle to show familiar emojis to other road users, in an effort to allow the vehicle to communicate with pedestrians and other vehicles.
The appropriate emojis will be selected by people inside the vehicles and, in theory, will provide an easy and understandable way to describe one’s intentions on the road. This could prove particularly important in the future when fully autonomous vehicles become the norm and people become nothing but passengers.
Beyond a multitude of emojis, the screens are also able to display text to other road users and can even make distinct noises. While it may sound strange initially, emojis could help pedestrians interact more efficiently with autonomous vehicles. When crossing a road, for example, a pedestrian usually tries to make eye contact with the driver before crossing, but if a car doesn’t have a driver, another form of communication needs to be adopted. Could those icons be the solution?
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